Signs are held aloft while protesting near U.S. Representative Todd Rokita's Lafayette office along Columbia Street, in Lafayette, on Thursday, October 3, 2013. / Brent Drinkut/Journal & Courier

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Why should Todd Rokita worry?

“The Daily Show” blew him up Tuesday night for using Obamacare as a bargaining chip and calling it “one of the most insidious laws ever created by man” — a pat line from the Indianapolis Republican and our man in Congress during this federal shutdown week.

“Not just one of the most insidious laws ever created by America, which has Jim Crow and slavery on its resume of laws, but by man,” host Jon Stewart said, “putting Obamacare up with the Nuremberg Laws, the Spanish Inquisition, and prima nocta, the medieval law where on your wedding night, the king gets to sleep with your wife.”

Roasted on national TV, Rokita barely blinked, trotting out a press release outlining his definition: “The Affordable Care Act is one of the most insidious laws devised. That is because it is built around a series of lies, which are now being exposed.”

Why should Todd Rokita worry?

Howls of “Sexist!” followed him Thursday, after he ended a combative interview with Carol Costello by blaming the media, in part, for the shutdown and telling the CNN anchor: “You’re beautiful, but you have to be honest, as well.”

(Later, Rokita released a statement: “At the end of a spirited and very important debate, I was simply keeping it from unnecessarily ending in an unfriendly or contentious way. I intended no offense to Ms. Costello.”)

Rokita wound up with a little political cover from fellow Indiana Republican congressman, Marlin Stutzman, who provided the shutdown with its T-shirt quote when he dropped this line to the Washington Examiner: “We’re not going to be disrespected. ... We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”

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Still, why should Todd Rokita worry?

For all the big talk about throwing the contemptuous bums out of Congress, Rokita knows the 4th District has his back. And that’s whether you like it or not.

If you don’t believe him, listen to the resignation in the voices of state Democratic Party leaders.

“The 4th District is a tough road,” John Zody, Indiana Democratic Party chairman, said Thursday. “I’m not going to lie.”

Is there a candidate waiting to be rolled out and prepped for the 2014 campaign? And wouldn’t this be a ripe time to, say, start chipping away at Rokita?

“Todd has a special knack at making people angry, so one never knows who will want to make a run against him,” said Jeff Fites, the Democratic Party’s 4th District chairman. “I do not believe in ‘lost causes.’ Rather, I believe there are ‘lost opportunities.’ ”

Why should Todd Rokita worry?

In 2012, his first re-election campaign, Rokita won by 27.8 points over Lafayette Democrat Tara Nelson. In the past decade, no Democratic challenger — whether against Rokita or former Rep. Steve Buyer — received more than 40 percent of the vote in a district drawn in a way to stretch from the Indianapolis suburbs to Jasper County and to preserve a conservative base.

“The way the districts are drawn and how endless amounts of money can be poured into these races, you always have that thought ... about how winnable that district can be — even if you have the perfect candidate,” said Heather Maddox, Tippecanoe County Democratic Party chairwoman. “That said, times are different, with the shutdown and all. ... With the right person, you never know.”

Why should Todd Rokita worry?

In such a safe GOP district, primary challengers haven’t emerged, either. “I’ve not heard any rumblings at all,” said Dave Heath, Tippecanoe County Republican Party chairman. “He’s a pretty conservative guy, and a lot of his supporters are conservative, too.”

Why should Todd Rokita worry?

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Asked Tuesday if he thought he’d get shutdown backlash at the polls, he said, “Honestly, I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

Instead, he recounted town halls and Congress on Your Corner events — including one in Lafayette in July — this summer, where the message he said he heard was that constituents “wanted us to fight.”

“You asked the question,” Rokita said. “I would hope to be rewarded in the sense that I’m listening and acting on what I was asked to do.”